March 25, 2011

Sumatran Tiger Electrocuted To Death

An official said on Friday that an endangered Sumatran tiger died after brushing against an electric fence set up by Indonesian farmers.

This is the second occurrence of a case like this since the beginning of this year.

There are less than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild and environmental activists say that the animals are increasingly coming into contact with people as a result of their natural habitat being lost due to deforestation.

Provincial conservation agency chief Trisiswo told AFP that the six-foot male tiger was electrocuted on Monday in Jambi province in the center of Sumatra, Indonesia's largest island.

He said that it was the second time this year a tiger had died as a result of the electric fences locals installed to protect palm oil plantations.

"The tiger's body was partly charred but unlike the first incident, the body was still intact," he said.

Locals had sold some of the body parts of the tiger that was killed last month.

Trisiswo said that people in the village of Air Laut Hitam village had encircled their palm oil plantations with the high-voltage electric wires to keep wild animals away, and they refuse to abide by local rules that ban the practice.

"We reported the case to local police to act firmly against them and we'll cooperate with local administration to stop this dangerous practice," he told AFP.